Description

It's been all rumors and speculation up until now. What some bloggers out there have been calling "Pink" or "Tribe" has just been officially announced as
Kin, the next Windows Phone. Take a look at this full hands on demo followed by some Q&A.Kin aims to be a new social experience from Microsoft that combines the phone, online services and the PC. It is designed for a socially connected audience with unique features such as The Spot, The Loop and The Studio. Check it out!

The Discussion

The hardware looks decent and I like the zune integration, as ugly as it is on such a small screen.

My major problem was the presentation and target demographic. The target demographic was downright insulting and embarrassing. I mean, does Microsoft really think its neat that their new phone makes it super easy for jerks to take pictures of fat people
at Chipotle and share it with all their supposed "friends." I guess its supposed to be really funny or something.... or maybe I am just old and don't get it?

Great video and it seems like this is going to be a great phone. My question, though, is there is all this talk about sharing things, whether its a facebook status or an engadget article, though many different channels. What does it look like to other
people when I share something with them, or when things are shared with me? There doesn't seem to be any coverage of this sharing interaction.

Why did you introduce it as "the new Windows phone"? Way to cause brand confusion. It seems like it's targetted at the current Sidekick market - people are are going to be hostile to an old brand like Microsoft or Windows - plus it adds confusion between
it and WP7.

i also find it totaly confusing that its a windows phone but not the actual windows phone, they even look kinda similar, albeit simplified..

people are not going to understand that this is not WP7 but WPsomething else..

given that microsoft doesnt give a crap about any markets other the US this is probably going to be a non-problem for me though.. not even the zune is available in europe for crying out loud (neither is the proper version of bing)

i can see folks thinking they are buying the Win7 phone and then beeing confused when a friend has the 7 one or the reverse with a customer whith a 7 phone wondering what this one is....

also what abut the OS and the software stack? are developers now going to have to code for 3 different WIndows phones ?

or is this 2 ? WTF????? KILL IT NOW!! just put whatever software it has on 7 and put out ONE NEW PHONE!!!

Sorry Laura but this to me is an example of where MS is getting really really bad at some things....

sometimes it's like there are to many different things going on and no way for one team to keep track of them...

and taking sooo long to respond ... the WInPhone 7 should have been out at least a year ago, and just take the man hours spent on this and figure out how must time might have been better spent getting ONE phone ready.

It's not confusing, it's flat-out retarded. I'm not going to get all "Apple only make one phone, blah blah" about it, I can actually see the point of this as a product, but not with a Microsoft badge on it and definitely not with the Windows mark-of-uncool.

The concept is great. A lot of cool ideas. Very nice execution. But I cannot help but wonder: why on Earth is the kin.com website Flash-driven? Is Silverlight not good enough for building the site's interactive pages? Sad, so sad...

"Across the Windows Phone family of products, our intention is to bring together everything that’s important to our customers. This vision guided our strategy for Windows Phone 7 and is now being brought to life for a new audience with today’s announcement
of KIN. The result is two experiences that share the same underlying philosophy and design, but were created for two purposes - two kinds of audiences.

While Windows Phone 7 is a multipurpose phone for a broad set of consumers, KIN is for a generation of people that live to be connected to their friends and their family. They get their news through Facebook and Twitter, and they can’t bear to be cut off
from their friends. They connect, express and relate through technology, and this generation needs a phone to help them share their life moment to moment. "

First, I'm just glad to see the first mobile phone with Zune and Zune Pass support. I can see this doing very well within the target market if the pricing and marketing are right. I hope they strongly consider including Zune Pass with the mobile plan.

The way I look at this, its an entry level Windows "feature" phone...redefining what one might expect from today's feature phones. I definitely see a class of consumer who just don't give a rats ats about downloadble apps. All they want is to keeps tabs
of their friends, post about what their doing, take lots and lots of photos/videos and listen to music when they want to be anti-social. Having a really nice UI, virtually unlimited storage along with these camera specs is very appealling.

I like this move for a couple of reasons. One, I think it raises the bar for apps on Windows Phone 7. I'm mean, I'm going to say to myself, if this is available on a lower level feature phone...you better deliver something even more rich with all the device
hardware capabilities on WP7. Personally, I'd like to see Kin Studio available to Windows Phone 7 users or at least as a download option via its app store.

This totally sucks... it is a windows phone but not a windows phone 7 ... LOL ... great way to market... if this is the way you guys market a phone. Whoever now uses this KIN (windows phone ) would feel that it will be same as windows phone 7 ... which
is a very bad idea...

Please note I am so pro Microsoft but this just looks bad. What are they thinking? I hated to move over to droid but it seems to be a ton better. Am I the only one that does not care about social networking? They so off track. Build a computer
not a social network portal.

There shouldn't be much confusion as, like Windows CE, PocketPC/Phone, and Windows Mobile before it, Windows Phone is a background brand signifying the base platform, not available featureset.

To the general public, it has minimal impact. The brands seen by them will be ODM or carrier brands as always.

People will be buying a Kin, not a Windows Phone.

Similarly, with Windows Phone 7 (and 8 and 9...), people will be buying an HTC X or T-Mobile Y. Windows Phone will just be a small logo on the box, boot screen, and back of the device -- cool for us that pay attention and like devices built on Windows, but
it sadly hasn't been widely effective in itself at getting non-geeks to not call my PocketPC a Palm, or realize their Windows Mobile phone w/ slideout keyboard isn't a Blackberry.

Funny stuff, but after Windows Mobile 6.5, the Windows Phone 7 is actually not a Windows Phone 7, but a Windows Phone and KIN is another Windows Phone, but not a Windows Phone 7 and not a Microsoft Phone... errr... did I get that right?

I am wondering if this is one of those cases when Microsoft's strategy (or is it the market?) drives multiple teams to work on similar projects, then these projects sometimes merge, sometimes some eventually get cancelled or they all die.

Anyways, it looks pretty cool. I join in on the question if you will be able to develop apps for the KIN the same way you do it for Windows Phone? Or is it back to the original problem - is this another OS or is it just a Windows Phone with a different UI
theme - the type of thing Microsoft was supposed to fight in WinMo phone manufacturers by introducing this new Windows Phone...

Arrrgh...

EDIT: I could not see Apps/Games section in the Zune app on this phone, so it could be either elsewhere or not there at all.

Ok, maybe I don't understand all the moaning and groaning. Where's the confusion. It's not called Windows Phone 7 Kin Series. There is nothing Windows 7 in the name. Doesn't look like Windows Phone 7. Where is the confusion? It's called a Kin. If you don't
do the stuff in the video then you probably wouldn't want it. Wait for the 7 series. Maybe I'm just too cerebral this morning but I don't understand all the moaning. Windows Phone as a whole is a broad brand to me. This is a specific phone in it which is why
they have different names. For being developers, some folks can be a bit thick. If it has gps nav, I want one. If it doesn't, I'll wait. I like the simplicity in the device. I don't need 1000s of apps. I never use them. What would be really killer though is
if this could be a skin on top of windows phone 7 series. Best of both worlds.

I think it is awesome, and not that confusing! I think the point is that the Kin is distinctly different from the Windows Phone 7 and definitely more targeted in audience and scope. I think the bigger mistake would have been branding it as a WP7 phone
given the differences which would definitely confuse users around waht to expect from the device.

Wow, this is not confusing at all people. The Product is KIN, it is that simple. All the Windows Phone crap means is that it is a phone that is made by Microsoft and carries the title of Windows. The product itself is KIN, thats all you need to know. Windows
Phone 7 is called Windows Phone 7, there is no actual hardware made by Microsoft that carries a title and runs Windows Phone 7. It really is not that hard to understand. KIN is a totally different thing. There are no extra apps, only what is built in, and
from all indications from Microsoft, there are no games either, although no one has actually confirmed this.

EDIT: No games or third party apps are coming to the device as of now, but they are looking into it for updates and such. Here is the source

I'm not going to lie -- I've never been a big fan of Windows Mobile. In fact, I blame it for killin' my pa (the fact that he is not actually dead is in material). But I have to admit, this looks pretty slick, apart from the minor lag. Motorola could stand
to take a few pointers from this OS for their MOTOBlur service. *spits on his Cliq*

Only questions I still have (and I may have missed mention of this since I'm kind of half-asleep) regards price. I'd assume that these phones,
without a contract, would run somewhere around $400 (with Kin One being cheaper, naturally), but any clarification would be ideal. I would think that, with a price point around $50 with contract, this would have the potential to become Verizon's
Sidekick -- every teenage girl and her friend would have one.

1) MS bought Danger. However, did not use any Danger client side Java code or services (now using Azure I guess). So all those devs knew Java, not .Net. So what did you actually get from Danger? Just get them out of way?

2) Targeting 15-25 year olds. As parents will be buying these, is there any parental controls?

3) Seems like there should be a car safty device added. When Kin owner is driving, device runs in Mute mode. No texting while driving and save some lifes. This is actually a good idea. How could this be implemented? Use the Kin as an electronic car
key with some custom harness wired in to car? Think some parents would like this.